RIOT
by sushirapper
Summary: "Reckless" is a brand all three of them wear, and wear well. The thing is, put them all together, and the world won't know what hit them. Or, 365 Fresh Except It's ASL: The Fic.
1. The Devil's Luck

_Birthday fic for crispyibon! You are the loveliest of all the lovelies and this is a little late, but I hope you don't mind. Hugs and kisses and remember that I love you always!_

 _Based heavily on the music video of 365 Fresh by Triple H._

 ** _-shira_**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own One Piece or anything within the OP franchise. All rights belong to Eiichiro Oda- _sensei_. Neither do I own 365 Fresh by Triple H and all rights belong to their owner there, too.

* * *

The bar is rowdy and loud, just the way Luffy likes it. The thundering bass pounds into his skull and there are slick, sweaty bodies grinding against each other everywhere. He pulls the hood of his sweater down and grins in the fluctuating lights, spotting the perfect pair of targets sitting by the counter.

He pauses for a second, considering if maybe his current look would ruin his plans, but decides that ultimately, it won't matter.

Luffy slips through the crowd, occasionally getting pulled into a group of dancers. He takes it all with an easy laugh. A few rolls of his hips, hands sliding down his body, and fingers sliding into pockets later, and he's easing away from the crowd with his hoodie's hidden pockets heavy with his loot. The young man bounces off of the dance floor and heads for the bar, slamming into it and startling the two women near him.

Perfect.

He yells at the bartender for a glass of their best whiskey. The bartender looks Luffy and his ratty red hoodie and messy hair and split lip over with a suspicious eye. He laughs and slides a wad of bills across the varnished wood. She shrugs and pours him a glass from a bottle under the counter and he downs it in one, hating the burn of the alcohol but loving the buzz that came with it.

"You're a little young to be drinking that much, aren't you?"

Luffy turns to the woman next to him with a grin and he has to stifle his laugh at the muted gasp her companion makes when she spots his face.

The woman with the sleek black hair and sharp blue eyes simply raises an eyebrow and Luffy laughs for real.

"Ehh but I'm 21 though?" His tone is of shameless confusion but the signature grin he shoots them is pure mischief, one eye slipping completely closed with the force of his smile. The other eye is already forced shut by the impressive black eye he'd gotten from this morning's scuffle.

The orange-haired woman with the devious smile leans over to hiss to her friend, " _Robin._ Don't you dare. That one's trouble and we both know it."

Robin didn't so much as take her eyes off Luffy, just waves the bartender over and orders another drink for Luffy. The other girl just sighs in long-suffering resignation.

Luffy crows in joy, bouncing over to sit next to Robin, immediately snaking his hand out to take a sip of whatever the two girls were drinking. Orange-Hair gives a yelp of annoyance when Luffy steals hers right out of her reaching fingers and Robin laughs in quiet delight, placing a hand on the other's shoulder, murmuring softly.

Normally, no one would be able to hear something said that quietly.

But Luffy's been doing this for years and he catches the snatches of _"Nami... worry... just see how this goes?"_ as he smacks his lips and hums in consideration. He decides he likes Nami's fruity drink a lot more than Robin's salty bitter one.

Nami glares at him when he knocks it back completely. Robin chuckles again and Nami turns to glare at her instead.

"This is really good! What's it called?" He turns to give them his full attention as the bartender comes over to refill his glass and make Nami a new drink.

Nami hesitates before reluctantly giving in. "... it's a screwdriver."

Luffy oohs and shifts a little closer to the woman in purple when she mentions that hers is called a margarita. He begins chatting with her, talking about whatever floats into his head and shifting topics faster than the spin of a roulette wheel. Robin laughs a lot and she seems to be enjoying herself which is good because Luffy's having a lot of fun too.

Nami takes a bit more coaxing, but soon she's sighing in defeated exasperation at Luffy's stories as well, a smile she keeps trying to force down tugging at her lips the whole time. Robin is really smart, and she keeps up with Luffy's distracted mind easily, not seeming to mind the boy's impossibly short attention span. Nami has a sharp tongue but always has a funny comment or story of her own to tell in exchange for Luffy's adventures.

He wishes he could stay a little longer.

But he's already spotted the door slamming open, unheard by the crowd in the heat and the noise. He recognizes them as the same people from the earlier fight and he should probably be more worried but he's too disappointed he has to leave his new friends now. But then he remembers why they're still after him anyway and he cracks a grin.

He only realizes he'd suddenly stopped in the middle of what he was saying when he feels two worried sets of eyes on him.

Whoops.

Luffy already forgot what he was saying before, so he goes with the line his Grampa always told him never fails. (Other people say it doesn't work at all, but it's worked for Luffy before, so he doesn't mind using it again.)

"You two are really pretty!"

It works. There's a startled smile on Nami's face and flattered amusement in Robin's eyes. But he can't stay any longer.

So he hops off his stool and swallows the dregs of his third glass of whiskey. He then jumps right at Nami and wraps his arms around her in a tight squeeze, letting go quickly before she can get it into her head to smack him.

Luffy backs up a couple of steps and spots Nami's murderous glare, fingers tight on her drink. Huh. She probably thought he was going to steal it for a sip again. Well, he wasn't going to but now he wants the drink so he pouts at her until she relents—which doesn't take too long—with a sigh and a crooked smile. Luffy giggles when she lets him finish it off again.

"You're leaving, then?"

The boy turns to Robin with an enthusiastic. nod. He can see the gang getting closer to where they are, slowed only by the sheer amount of people still dancing. The young man slips his arms around her silk covered skin in a quick embrace as well, except he lingers a little longer because he knows she won't hit him.

He really hopes he meets them again. He likes them a lot.

Luffy finally releases the older woman with a quick flip of his wrists, grinning as he pulls his hood up. He chirps a soft, "Thanks!" and is about to move away when a hand comes around his arm all of a sudden, grip like a vice.

Luffy tenses because he can't be caught. Not again.

But it's only Robin and somehow, Luffy isn't surprised at the strength in her hold.

"Why are those men chasing you?" Her voice is low and her eyes dark, and Luffy considers wrenching away from her. But something in her tone changes his mind when she continues, "Will you be alright?"

So instead, Luffy puts a comforting hand on her cheek and whispers back loudly, "I just gave them directions. Guess they didn't find what they were looking for."

She studies him for a bit and Luffy knows that manic grin of his is back because this is exciting as hell. He's not too worried he'll scare these two off, though.

Somewhere, Nami has already slipped off to stall a few of the more gullible members of the gang, shirt pulled lower than it was earlier. When Robin lets go of him with an understanding smile, Luffy's grin widens impossibly.

These two are special. And he'll be damn sure to find them again one day.

But for now, he needs to get out of here because he's been playing dangerous games and getting caught today would be bad for so many reasons.

It's so easy; the hooded figure Luffy makes slips easily through the shadows at the edge of the throng of bodies, taking the staff's route towards the employee parking space. From there, he scrambles through a few alleys and drops down into the customer's valet parking, landing with a soft thump. A tabby kitten passes by his foot.

He stands up, humming a tune he can never remember the lyrics of. Luffy is more than home free by now so he's in no real hurry, strolling casually down the rows of beautiful cars, spinning a small metal chain noisily between his fingers.

A keychain he'd found tucked so obviously into a purple silk pocket.

He grins like mad when he finds the car matching the keys in his hand and decides he wants to go on a little road trip.


	2. The Devil's Mistake

Sabo is running for his life. Again.

It isn't really anything new, so he shouldn't complain, but really, this job is getting to be a pain in the ass. The sound of phantom sirens is pounding in his ears and his fingers are still slippery with blood as he makes his dizzying way to the main road.

Alright, so hold up. Rewind. Here's what _really_ happened.

Sabo was on graveyard shift at the barber shop up in the Greenhills Estates, his latest post since his mission downstate. The reek of money was everywhere even when he was alone for the night and Sabo hated every second there.

He'd just been cleaning up, an hour since everyone else left, when the front door's bell rang to signal a customer's arrival. The blond sighed to himself and slapped a welcoming smile on his face.

"Good evening, sir. How may we be of service today?"

It was a good thing the new arrival was flipping through the magazines set on the table stand by the door; it took Sabo a few seconds to get his expression under control. He hid his grin quickly as the man turned to him after picking up the copy of the day's paper.

The rabbit had just walked into the lion's den.

"You alone here? I need Juan to do my regular," Roberto Alianse said, eyes glinting under thick eyebrows.

One of the major players in Laville's politics and financially worth more than even the governor, Alianse had been a target of the Ryuugo for his corruption and machinations for years—and he was exactly the type of man Sabo hated. He'd grown up alone and on the streets, taken advantage of by rich, entitled men such as this after he'd run away from home. They weren't his proudest moments, but before he was picked up by Dragon's group, he'd survived the only way he knew how. That was how he knew exactly what kind of man Alianse was from the moment they'd met eyes at the entrance of the shop.

 _Lucky me,_ Sabo thought grimly as he rinsed out the razor in the water tub before slathering shaving cream over Alianse's jaw, ignoring how the bastard's eyes darkened in desire as they followed him about the room.

Sabo silently cursed Dragon to hell and back, wishing anyone else could have been sent on this assignment. Not that he had a choice. Terrorist group, vigilantes, whatever their bunch called themselves, Sabo knew for a fact that he owed them. And hey, he was good at his job and it generally didn't bother him being sent undercover to kill off the men in the way of Dragon's plans.

Didn't mean he had to like being stuck with this sick perverted asshole in a small space.

"I don't believe I've seen you before, boy. Are you new here?" Alianse's voice grated on his ears as Sabo finished up with the shave. His fingers twitched but he knew he couldn't kill him just yet. Not yet.

He turned around instead and busied himself putting away his tools. "Something like that, sir. I've been working graveyard for the past few months, so not quite as new as you'd expect."

The blond flashed the bastard a little smile before letting his eyes slide away in disinterest.

Alianse leaned forward in the chair, eyebrows raised in interest.

"Night shift? Are you a student, then?"

Sabo forced himself to laugh breathily in response. "No time for that, sir. I've been helping out at me mum's bakery, what with her having no time to take care of my little brother when my dad left us and all."

He tried not to snort at the idea of his mother doing any kind of manual labor as he leaned over to take the cape from Alianse's neck.

"Financial problems and all, sir."

What happened next was inevitable.

In a flash, there's a knife in Sabo's hand pinning Alianse's arm to the chair and the other stifling his screams. The skin on Sabo's waist and behind where Alianse had grabbed him felt like it was burning. Distantly, he wondered how long he'd have to scrub himself before he stopped feeling disgusting.

He'd blown his cover but it was too late now. With eyes spilling hate, he slit the bastard's throat quickly before Alianse could think to scream.

But Sabo hadn't reckoned on his hand shaking hard enough to draw a ragged line instead of a clean cut.

Oh it killed him, sure enough. But the force of the blow had the blood spilling all over Sabo's hands and splattering into his eyes. He stumbled back, eyes screwed shut, pushing away from the gurgling corpse as his fingers lost their grip on the butterfly knife he always kept in his back pocket. Alianse tipped over and the thuds both body and chair made were like thunder in the silence.

"For the love of every mother—" Sabo hissed softly as he got to his feet. He rubbed his eyes clean on his sleeve as he listened to the sound of car doors slamming and heavy footsteps coming from outside the shop. Of _course_ bastard wouldn't come alone.

Oh well. He whistled softly to himself as his head cleared of all of his distracting thoughts. Now, with Alianse dead and no threat left to him but that of death if the men outside caught him, Sabo already felt better than he usually did. He'd botched the mission, of course, but all he needed to do was get to Dragon and he could always talk his way out of this mess he'd gotten himself into.

Probably.

Sabo stood with his hands on his hips, surveying the damage. "So. What shall we do now, Outlook?"

He figured he only had a few seconds left, judging by the force of what he assumed were Alianse's lackeys rattled the doorknob with, so there was almost definitely no time to clean up. He had just grabbed one of the towels to at least wipe the worst of the blood on his hands off when he heard the door slamming open. Make that no time at all, then. Sabo laughed a little crazily and slipped out of the nearest window and down into the alley to run for his life. Again.

So now here he is, close to the main road but not quite close enough. He's already had a few close calls with Alianse's men and his head is throbbing as he stumbles through the trash in one of the shadier alleys he'd tried escaping through.

There isn't anyone around to tell him he looks quite insane. The previously pristine uniform is rumpled from all the narrow escapes, dress shoes and pants hem stinking from exposure to trash and nasty liquids on the ground; his hair is tinged with blood from when he'd run his still dripping fingers through them out of habit; there's a wild look in his eyes like a cornered animal as his mind runs furiously through his options.

Sabo figures he ought to just let himself be caught by the police for now, act crazy and desperate and say it was self defense. They'd put him in a holding cell for the night as they tried to verify his claims, his back story that held no real substance. But it would take at least twenty-four hours and he'd be safe from Alianse's men.

He could always escape jail once he was in there. He couldn't come back from the dead.

The police it is. He heads for the main road, head still throbbing but at least he has a plan now. Sort of.

He's listening hard for where the sirens are coming from as he stumbles out of the back streets and into the well-lit road, so he doesn't much pay attention to the other noises around him. Like the unmistakable purr of a high-end engine coming straight at him.

What he _does_ notice is the bright headlights flashing right into his eyes, blinding him, and the sudden screech of someone slamming into the brakes. Sabo enjoys a split-second of humor at thinking he might die tonight anyway, although for the dumbest reason possible.

But his pulse is still pounding in his veins and the longest eternity has passed and he hasn't gone to hell just yet, so Sabo figures he's still alive. He pulls the hand shielding his eyes away and looks up to the vehicle sitting less than a foot away from him, distantly noting its color, model, and plate number, like his training tells him to.

He locks eyes with a wide-eyed, bright brown gaze behind the wheel.

There's a moment where neither of them does anything but stare, weighing each other and gauging whether to run or confront. Sabo doesn't know it but the boy behind the wheel doesn't want to pick a fight in his stolen car, and the boy doesn't know it but Sabo doesn't want to draw too much attention to himself yet, what with fresh blood still on his hands.

Then the moment breaks and the boy's eyes fall to Sabo's messy appearance. The blond tenses, ready to bolt at any second, but then there's the click of a lock releasing and the boy leans over to open the passenger's seat door.

He sits back behind the wheel and there's a reckless grin on his face as he honks twice like he's telling Sabo to _hurry up!_

There's no one around to tell Sabo his answering grin is every bit as wide as the other, but that didn't matter right now. He shouldn't trust this boy, but he does, for whatever reason, and he slips quickly into the car, shutting the door behind him firmly. He can see the ratty red hoodie on the boy now, and Sabo ignores all the rational voices in his head yelling about how bad an idea this is (most of them sound like Koala, though he'd never tell her that).

Then the boy slams his foot onto the accelerator and Sabo has to grab for the handle over the door for dear life. He curses himself and then he curses god and then, as the kid by his side starts laughing in glee, thinks _Oh, what the hell,_ and lets the devils take him.

He's just found his ticket out of here.


	3. The Devil's Son

Ace is having a really bad day. But then, at this point, pretty much every day is a bad day. He drops his bag by the door with a sigh, kicking his shoes off haphazardly before flopping bonelessly onto the bed nearby.

There's no real reason he feels awful after coming back from work; the job itself doesn't take too much out of him, his boss isn't a shit asshole like his old jobs had, and the people are surprisingly kind of nice. Thatch is actually pretty cool, and Marco's never done wrong by him yet. Still, he wouldn't trust them as far as he could throw them, and considering he worked construction between jobs, that was saying a lot. Then again, that's not really their fault.

It isn't their fault Ace can't trust them.

 _Well, it isn't their fault Ace can't trust_ anyone _._

 _Haha of course it isn't._

 _Acey's just broken, right, Acey~?)_

 _Hey he ain't broken!_

 _Heh is that because he's_ ruined _instead?_

He sighs and shifts around until he can reach underneath his bed, desperate to shut the voices up. The brief lull of silence between inhales is favorite reprieve. Ace knows he shouldn't, that this isn't gonna be enough for very long and one day he'd get himself into a lot of trouble for this, but it was only when smoking that the voices were ever silent—

 _Hey check this out! Wheeeeeee!_

 _Okay, so maybe not_ silent, Ace acknowledges to himself, grinning like a fool in the mirror, his reflection's eyes scratched out in the red lipstick Izo had left the last time he'd come to clean up. _But tolerable, at the very least_.

His bedroom is a collage of nights like this, pieces ripped apart and put together to make up the image of who Ace is. By the sink, the twisted up cellphone cord from when he'd wondered if it felt the same as when he began choking at the thought of talking to people; behind the door is the plastic bag he'd used to see how long he could hold his breath (in case he ever _physically_ drowned); the door itself is covered in scratches, scissors gone blunt when he'd gotten curious how hard the wood was. There are soot stains in the center of the tiny room's floor, a joint left too long nearly setting his room on fire.

Three blunts in and he decides he wants to take a walk; his head is blissfully silent and there's always something about the night lights of the city that makes him nostalgic for something he's never had.

Ace wanders around outside his apartment for a bit, looking into dark windows and doodling dumb shit on cars parked along the road. His laughter echoes around him as he clicks the button on the pedestrian stoplight again and again. It's past midnight; there aren't a lot of people around anymore, and Ace's high is fading fast.

He leans back against a stoplight (not the one from before, he'd run from that one fast when he'd heard sirens in the distance) and tips his head up to look at the sky, eyes half lidded against the lights from the building across the street. A beat later and he can feel the voices in his head gearing up again, and there're headlights speeding down the road.

 _Hey. Hey hey hey. You think it'll hurt, if you get hit?_

 _Ha! Not any more than anything else, I'll bet._

 _Sure. Doesn't it hurt Acey more when people find out_ who _he is—_

Ace takes one step forward, right into the path of the incoming car.

There's a beat, and a _thump_ , and Ace listens to tires screeching along the asphalt as he flies into the air. He begins to laugh, the concrete rough beneath him, because the voices were right: his heart hurts more than this ever could. He doesn't think he's gonna stop laughing anytime soon.

He only tries to look up when he hears a car door slamming, but then there's a weight on his stomach and a fist meeting his jaw, over and over. All Ace can make out is a blur of red because his mouth is doing its best to keep laughing even through the pain, barely getting out a hiccup every now and again. Whoever is hitting him gets another few hits in before a yell comes from his right and the punches stop.

There's a brief scuffle over him and he distantly notes a blonde is holding the arm of the kid still on top of him, but can't really make out what he's saying. It sounds urgent though.

But the kid doesn't seem to want to listen because he wrenches away from the other one and goes back to pummeling Ace.

Ace stops counting after the twelfth punch, content to take his punishment, but a low, even voice cuts through even the haze in his head.

"Kid. _Enough_ "

The punches stop a second time, and the kid is breathing harder than Ace himself, hands fisted tight in the collar of Ace's shirt.

"No," the boy growls.

And at first Ace thinks he's talking to the blonde, saying he wants to stop, but the anger in those brown eyes cuts through last of the fuzziness in his brain.

"No," the kid repeats. " _You are not allowed to die_."

Ace's breath is gone all of a sudden and he shuts his eyes, unable to stand the look in those eyes as he lets his body fall slack against the pavement. There's this pause, a moment where he feels like the ground is falling from under his feet—then the weight pressing him down is gone. He opens his eyes a little to watch the two have a quiet argument by his foot and almost misses the blood staining the rumpled white shirt of the blonde.

He shouldn't care, not really, and definitely not after what he pulled, but he can't help himself and shoots to his feet to stumble towards the duo.

"Are you alright?! Do you need treatment? Ah shit, my place isn't too far from here, do you want to just—" he knows it's just the adrenaline, the sudden change from his high to this high-tension situation, but he's already reaching frantically across the blonde's torso, trying to find a wound to match with the bloodstains.

He barely even notices the amusement in the guy's face, or the widening grin on the kid's, up until the blonde easily snatches his wrists with both hands and pins them together.

"While I'm flattered by your... _proposition_ ," the guy starts in a voice that Ace instantly decides he's going to hate for the rest of his life, "I don't think this is the way you should be going about wooing someone, yes?"

"Huh?" Ace has no idea what he's talking about. The boy next to them begins giggling. "What the fuck are you going on abou…"

It suddenly clicks, what the blonde meant, and Ace flushes all the way to the tips of his ears.

" _THAT'S NOT WHAT I FUCKING MEANT_."

The kid in the awful red hoodie is laughing harder now, doubled over in half and Ace begins hissing denials at him too. He straigthens up all of a sudden and Ace is startled into shutting up. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't a little scared of the gleam in those eyes.

"We're keeping him," the kid declares firmly, and Ace's mouth drops open.

"What? What the fuck?!"

"Are you sure?" The blonde asshole asks, just as seriously.

"Yep. He needs taking care of."

"Won't it be dangerous for him?"

"Not any more than anything else, really. Besides, it'll be fun!"

"OI!" Both of them turn to Ace immediately, eyebrows raised in question like they hadn't been talking about him the whole time like he wasn't there. On that note, the prick is still holding his wrists together, and he's surprisingly strong considering Ace had been trying to get free for the past minute. The blonde looks down like he's surprised at his own actions and suddenly lets Ace go just as he gave a particularly violent tug.

Ace falls over immediately and the blonde laughs instead of apologizing while the kid giggles and crouches down beside him. Ace groans and looks up to find a hand extended in front of him, a tattered red sleeve hiding the strength beneath those scrawny arms.

There's a smile in his voice and hope in his eyes and Ace knows right then that he couldn't possibly say no when the kid asks, "So what do you say? Wanna join us?"


	4. Hell Is A Riot

The car should be filled with awkward silence after that whole fiasco, but Luffy's babbling keeps everything light out of sheer will. Ace finds out that their names are Luffy and Sabo as he settles as well as he can in the backseat. He hesitates a little, but ultimately tells them his real name.

There's a pregnant pause and he braces himself to get kicked out of the car, knowing they'd recognize it immediately.

"I'm an assassin," Sabo tells them comfortably instead, and Ace's eyes go wide. "Well, sort of. I mostly just get sent to get rid of the nasties on my boss' hit list, so it it isn't as glamorous as it sounds. You?"

"Oh, is that what you were doing when I found you? _Shit."_ Luffy veers a hard left into the interstate and the other two give brief yells of alarm when they all tilt to the right. Ace curses under his breath as he rights himself, then turns to Luffy, actually a little curious what the answer is.

"Hmm. I dunno, to be honest?" The youngest taps his fingers against the steering wheel for a second, brow furrowed in concentration, before he suddenly laughs and his face clears of all confusion. "I'm not really anthing, I guess! I just sorta do whatever I want to, y'know?"

Ace would never tell him, but that sounds like the most dangerous profession of all. The concerned look on Sabo's face when they meet eyes in the rearview mirror tells him he's not the only one thinking that.

 ** _o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~_**

As the sky slowly brightened, Luffy pulls in by a sad little gas station, desperate to stretch his cramped legs and get some fresh air. The other two had taken turns napping, but Luffy didn't wanna get caught just yet, especially not after he'd made some new friends.

The car's loss of movement must have woken the other two, because they're up and blinking around barely a minute into his stretches.

He grins at them as he tips himself backwards and lands on all fours with his stomach in the air. "Morning!"

Ace looks a little nauseated, but he manages to reply. "Yeah... sure."

"Hey, Lu, why'd we stop?" Sabo doesn't seem to mind which is a plus in Luffy's book, but he looks annoyed. Maybe because Luffy hadn't asked before stopping?

He tilts his weight back onto his palms and goes into a handstand for a second before flipping himself upright, facing the other two. "I wanted to show you something."

"Yeah, what's that, trees? _Oh no wait._ Is it... _trees?!_ "

Luffy pouts at Ace and goes to respond with a _good_ comeback, but Sabo's tired scowl stops him. The youngest immediately looks away and whistles to himself, making sure he looked as innocent as possible.

Sabo sighs. "So? What is it you wanted to show us?"

Luffy brightens up immediately. "Oh yeah! C'mere!" He bounces past the both of them until he gets to the car and reaches in from the driver's seat to pop the trunk. The other two exchange looks but go to check the trunk anyway.

The youngest comes up behind them with a gigantic smile on his face but he doesn't even care. The gobsmacked looks on their faces are _amazing._ "Shishishishi! So. What d'ya think?"

"Holy cactuses and rye bread," Ace murmurs and Sabo nods as if in agreement. "Luffy... what devil did you sell your soul to, to get this?"

Luffy doesn't answer immediately, busy sorting through the dozens of wads of cash easily amounting to over a million dollars stashed in the trunk to get to a dusty yellow beanie at the bottom of the pile. "Hmm? Well, no one? It came with the car."

He doesn't notice Ace and Sabo's disbelief as he pulls the beanie on, pleased to have his hat back where it belongs. He shuts the trunk as the elder two seem to hold a serious debate with just their eyes and studies them quietly for a second.

"Alright! Let's get you both hats!"

 ** _o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~_**

The room is small and there's only one bed, but the dingy motel is better than nothing. They'd been driving for almost a day straight and Sabo is too tired to figure out a fix for their appearances; he'd pushed for the three of them to get a place for the night off the highway and deal with everything else in the morning.

 _And yet,_ he sighs to himself. He watches Ace make a disturbingly accurate approximation of a breathing corpse on the other end of the small couch while Luffy fidgets in his spot between them. Sabo's not entirely sure why they're all here, but he's guessing it's a bit of newly made affection and a lot of repressed fear. Whatever the case, none of them are actually watching the dumb sitcom on the tiny TV but none of them are leaving either.

He stifles another sigh and reaches into a pocket for a cigarette. There's a conveniently placed ashtray and lighter on the table next to him and he thanks whatever god is out there for small favors.

"Really?" The older brunette scoffs from across the couch as Sabo finally, _finally_ lights up a stick (he'd luckily had a pack in his pocket when he'd been cleaning up earlier so he hadn't needed to buy anything). "Cigarettes? Those things will kill you, you know."

Sabo almost chokes on his inhale, he starts laughing so hard. He manages to snort between laughs, "'Oh that's just _rich_ coming from you, Mr. I-Guess-I'll-Get-Hit-By-A-Car-For-Fun-Tonight!"

Ace flushes again and Sabo still hasn't stopped laughing. He mutters something that the blonde ignores as he settles in, deciding he could use a shower and a nap after this stick. He was going to ignore Luffy's squirming, too, but the boy suddenly flops into his lap, whining.

" _Aceeee. Saboooo._ I'm boooooooooooreeeeeeed."

Sabo snorts and runs his fingers through Luffy's hair on instinct, but otherwise doesn't say anything. He only pauses briefly to toss Ace the lighter when he gestures for it, then goes back to petting Luffy's hair. It's only when the smell of the smoke changes that he turns incredulously to the (surprisingly) eldest man in the room.

"Marijuana? Really?"

Ace shrugs with a little grin, then offers the blunt to Luffy. Sabo hisses at him and tries to swipe it from Luffy's reaching fingers. Ace begins to laugh, the vibrations shaking the couch as he obstinately hands the blunt over to Luffy.

"Come on, 'Bo," Ace smirks as Sabo's eyes turn ice cold at the stupid nickname. "It's just a little weed, you gotta loosen up, bro."

The movie remains unnoticed as they bickered into the night.

 ** _o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~_**

"Where'd 'Bo go?" Ace's voice is a little muffled around the chips packets he has hanging from his teeth, hands full with the numerous drinks for all three of them, but he thinks Luffy understood well enough because he makes a vague hand gesture towards the smoking area outside.

Ace nods with a little difficulty then drops his burden on the counter, eyeing it critically. "Did you want anything else, Lu?"

He doesn't notice Luffy's eyes light up in response to the nickname. He only hears Luffy hum a little in response before he's suddenly glomping onto Ace with a sunny laugh, arms wrapped eerily tight around his waist. It could be the alcohol talking, but the elder brunette doesn't do anything except sigh and lean his cheek against the greasy black hair and giggle softly when the strands tickle his nostrils.

That is until a heavy weight lands across his shoulders and a sharp chin digs into his scalp a few moments later, a slurred voice practically purring in his ear. "Mind if I join you boys?" Ace can practically _hear_ the shit-eating grin on Sabo's face.

So, of course, he instantly shoves them both off of him, spluttering indignantly as the tips of his ears turn tomato red in embarassment. Luffy doesn't miss a beat and glomps onto Sabo instead laughing that maniacal laugh while the blond smirks at Ace, heavy lidded eyes soft with affection.

Ace very carefully doesn't direct his small, answering smile at them.

 ** _o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~_**

The club is pulsing from the bass and the lights are seizure-inducing if you áren't the right kind of person. Sabo is definitely not the right kind of person. He didn't really like places like this a lot (although it _is_ a pretty decent place to poison someone), but Luffy looks like he's in his element and Ace seems pretty comfortable, if a little apathetic, so Sabo only really comes with them to keep them out of trouble.

Maybe.

But now he is completely, _utterly_ smashed like the other two and he has no idea how he got to this point except that maybe Luffy kept passing him drinks and the last few nights had been really stressful, and they had a shit ton of money to spend left over, so Sabo just kind of... let it all go. He doesn't regret a single thing now that he's here, although he might in the morning.

One second the blonde is on the dance floor, yelling the lyrics to some pop song he's never heard before with Ace and Luffy as bodies writhed around them, the next he's vomiting on the bathroom floor, then he's back at the counter, yelling for the bartender to hand him their best bottle of whisky. That last one was a little tricky because Sabo'd had to throw a lot of cash at the man before he'd finally given the whole thing to him.

His head is throbbing at this point, and he's lain down completely on one end of the counter to cool his head. All of a sudden there's a familiar laugh in his ear and it makes his head _hurt,_ so he shoves their face away, but they come back, and all Sabo can do is whine, " _Luffyyyy._ "

But the boy is so fucking persistent, and he hauls Sabo upright with Ace supporting him on the other side. Sabo whines at him too but then they set a weird, red shot glass in front of him and Ace is carefully putting some transparent liquid into it from a weird kind of bottle Sabo had never seen before and he really hopes its water because his mouth tastes like cotton now.

The words are muted and he's not sure if he'll even remember this in the morning, but he hears Ace say _swear_ and _sake_ and _brothers_ and Luffy's all excited and asking if its forever and Sabo doesn't let them get any farther than that because he grabs the glass and downs it in one.

He has no plans on asking any questions. His brothers' answering grins are enough for him and all his energy goes towards not throwing up as he watches them down their own share, because he'd made a promise and he damn well plans on keeping it.

 ** _o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~_**

" _Holy shit_ ," Ace yells as they dash for the car. "I can't believe this is fucking happening!"

Luffy giggles as he tries to dive for the driver's seat, but fails when Sabo gets there a second faster than him. Then they're all scrambling to shut doors and hold on for dear life as the blonde steps on the gas without hesitation, pulling them out of the parking lot of the empty school and into traffic. The lady who'd protested against their setting off fireworks in the school's backyard stumbles after them, yelling angrily as she holds her phone to her ear.

"Of all the goddamn things," Sabo breathes, but his eyes are bright with adrenaline too as their stolen fireworks continue firing into the sky behind them. Luffy looks behind him to find Ace with the same wide grin on his face, and nods in approval before turning back to keep his eyes on the road.

An hour later and Ace is hanging half out of the backseat window, howling with laughter as he flips the bird repeatedly at the police cars chasing them through the tunnel.

" _Sabo,_ " Luffy whines as he gets kept from following Ace's example with Sabo's hand on his collar. He his head at an angle to pout at their current driver. "If you weren't gonna let me do anything fun, you could have at least let me drive!"

Ace slips back into the car only to start laughing again at seeing their positions. "Yeah, 'Bo, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess if you'd let Lu drive."

Luffy can practically hear Sabo grinding his teeth together and decides to plop down into his seat properly for a while. There's a long breath beside him and Luffy shrieks in delight when they're all thrown to one side again as they drive recklessly out of the tunnel.

"Shut the fuck up, Ace," is all Sabo replies to the eldest. They pull onto a bridge and Sabo steps on the gas pedal viciously, cutting off Ace's response as they practically fly over bumps in the road.

This was, apparently, not a good idea because all of a sudden there are lights coming down towards them from the other side of the bridge again, and then they're surrounded. Sabo wrenches the car to a skidding halt by the side of the bridge and the other two tumble out when Luffy gets out all of a sudden.

They're all obviously still a little high because this should be alarming and the loud sirens and the voices telling them to drop to the ground should be overwhelming, but Luffy lives for this kind of energy and he jumps onto the car's hood and begins howling at the moon. After a second, Ace joins him from the ground, and Sabo is laughing as he stumbles to lean back against the bridge's balustrades.

Amidst all this and Luffy gets a great idea.

A police officer signals to someone else at the same time Luffy signals to Ace, and Luffy wonders briefly why there are so many cops here for a bunch of kids who only really got called in for some trespassing and the fireworks—but maybe they were here for him and Ace? He doesn't really care though as he whispers his instructions to Ace.

He ignores what the two are doing as he locks eyes with who he figured was the boss cop here, and grinned big and wide.

"Boss cop guy! Thanks for the fun chase, but we gotta go now. See ya!" Luffy watches their eyes widen as he pulls out the last item the guy at the fireworks place had given him.

"What the—" and then a flash of light turns their words into yells of agony.

Luffy turns and slides over the car's roof and onto the trunk, watching Sabo and Ace stand shoulder to shoulder on the balustrade, arms around each other to support themselves. With a laugh he jumps—

And dives right at them. They're falling now and Ace is screaming curses while Sabo is yelling in another language and Luffy laughs even louder than before. He grins big and wide and sees the answering smiles on his friends' ( _brothers'_ ) faces, and that's enough for him. With a last whoop of delight, the three look up as one and stick theiir tongues out at the policemen looking down at them in complete disbelief.

Then there's a loud splash of water, and the hell trio are finally lost from sight.


End file.
